22 posts categorized "Torchwood"

August 06, 2010

Russell T Davies has firmed up the writing staff for the fourth season of "Torchwood," which debuts in the summer of 2011 on Starz.

Davies, who created the "Doctor Who" spinoff, will of course write several episodes of the 10-part series, but other writers for Season 4 include John Shiban ("Breaking Bad," "Supernatural," "The X-Files"), Doris Egan ("House," "Tru Calling," "Dark Angel'), Jane Espenson ("Game of Thrones," "Battlestar Galactica," "Buffy") and John Fay (a U.K. "Torchwood" writer).

The writers are currently hard at work on the new season of the show, which tells an international story and feature the kind of serialized, overarching story line featured in "Torchwood: Children of Earth," the miniseries that put the cult sci-fi series on the map when BBC America aired it in 2009.

UPDATE: At the show's recent TCA panel, it was announced that Season 4 will be called "Torchwood: The New World."

In this 2009 interview, Davies talked about his newfound love for the miniseries format, which allows him to tell one large, taut story rather than a dozen or so separate tales over the course of a season. "I absolutely love it," Davies said. "I've been writing for 20 years and it's very rare to be given a new format."

"The
new series will allow Davies and his writing team to tell a more
explosive and global story, one that takes advantage of the unlimited
narrative opportunities of a premium television service like Starz," the network said in a June press release announcing the new season.

For Season 4 of "Torchwood," John Barrowman will return as Captain Jack Harkness, Eve Myles will be back as Gwen Cooper and casting is underway for several new characters. Filming on the Starz-BBC co-production will begin in January, and though some of it will be shot in the U.K., a substantial part of the new "Torchwood" season will likely be filmed in North America.

For more on the new season of "Torchwood," see this story. For all of my "Torchwood" stories, look here.

June 07, 2010

When the cult series "Torchwood" finally returns in the summer of 2011, the sci-fi drama will have a new American home and a more international flavor.

The fourth season of "Torchwood" will not air on BBC America; it will debut next summer on Starz in the United States and on BBC One in the U.K.

Russell T Davies, who created the "Doctor Who" spinoff in 2006, will be back as
"Torchwood's" showrunner, John Barrowman will star as Captain Jack Harkness and Eve Myles will return as Gwen Cooper.

But it sounds as though Captain Jack and company won't be staying too close to their underground "Hub" in Cardiff, Wales. Until now, that secret base of operations has been home for the Torchwood team, which investigates alien incidents on Earth. The new series will have a "more international scope," according to Starz.

“'Torchwood' has to date been located primarily in Cardiff, Wales," Starz's Monday release said. "The
new series will allow Davies and his writing team to tell a more
explosive and global story, one that takes advantage of the unlimited
narrative opportunities of a premium television service like Starz."

That means at least some of the new series will be filmed outside the UK this year, and there will be new cast members "announced soon" who will reflect the new season's international feel.

"'Torchwood’ will burst back onto the screen with a shocking and
moving
story with global stakes and locations that will make it feel bigger and
bolder than ever," Ben Stephenson, the Controller of BBC Drama
Commissioning said in the statement.

This is pure speculation, but given that Starz is a pay channel in the U.S. and can show just about anything, it stands to reason that "Torchwood" might indulge Captain Jack's saucy, omnisexual side more than the show ever has before (I've got no inside information what the new season will contain, but "Torchwood" has never been shy about depicting sexual or romantic entanglements -- sometimes very well indeed). In any case, let's hope that the new series has the kind of narrative momentum that the mostly excellent 2009 miniseries "Torchwood: Children of Earth" had (for more on that and for other "Torchwood" stories, look here.)

UPDATE:The Hollywood Reporter has a few more details regarding the upcoming fourth season from Davies and Starz CEO Chris Albrecht, who says "a lot" of the new season takes place in the U.S. There's also a good piece in Variety about the new "Torchwood" season.

Starz is certainly coming on strong with its programming: The network has an adaptation of Ken Follett's "The Pillars of the Earth" arriving July 23; it has commissioned a new adaptation of "Camelot," which arrives next year; "Party Down," which is in its second season, is one of television's best comedies; and "Spartacus," which returns in January, has emerged as an addictive, engaging romp.

July 24, 2009

Below is a review of "Torchwood: Children of Earth" (for a previous feature on the show, look here). It discusses what transpired over the five nights of the "Torchwood" miniseries, the final episode of which aired on BBC America Friday and which also will be screened at San Diego Comic-Con Saturday. Don't go on unless you've seen "Children of Earth."

For coverage of the Sunday "Torchwood" panel discussion at Comic-Con, check this site later Sunday and also check out my live Twitter feed of the event.

July 16, 2009

What follows is a review/feature of "Torchwood: Children of Earth." A transcript of my interview with creator Russell T Davies is at the end of the post. For an interview with star John Barrowman, who plays "Torchwood's" Captain Jack Harkness, look here. By the way, the first clip below shows the first seven minutes of "Children of Earth." The second clip on this post is also from early in the five-hour miniseries.

The last time you tuned in to BBC America may have been in 2003, when the cable network aired the original British version of “The Office.”

Since then, the network has perked along nicely, offering an array of edgy imports such as “Footballers Wives,” and the original “Life on Mars” and “Skins,” which have attracted niche audiences.

That may change during the next few days. BBC America is poised to break out with the miniseries “Torchwood: Children of Earth” (8 p.m. Central Monday, BBC America; three and a half stars), starring former Joliet resident John Barrowman. The thriller runs for five consecutive nights and TV Guide is just one publication that has called it “the TV event of the summer.”

No argument here. In a summer light on great TV finds, “Children of Earth” arrives as a bracing jolt of electricity. If you watch the first hour and don’t find yourself hooked, check your wrist—you may not have a pulse.

In the opening minutes of the miniseries, every child in the world stands still in unison. They aren't harmed, in fact, they don't even remember what happened. But it happens again. Needless to say, panic ensues.

Creator Russell T Davies was in a restaurant with the show’s executive producer, Julie Gardner, when he threw out that idea.

“I just said, ‘Every single child in the world stops,’” Davies said in a recent interview. “It makes you sit up, doesn’t it? It’s our children, it touches a nerve in everyone. It has more impact than any other threat.”

Davies, who reinvigorated the BBC’s venerable “Doctor Who” franchise four years ago and spun off “Torchwood” soon after that, said that one of his goals for “Children of Earth” was to attract new viewers to the show. Barrowman stars as the dashing and resourceful Captain Jack Harkness, who leads a crack team that battles alien threats.

As Davies explained, the miniseries format is perfect for introducing new viewers to “Torchwood.” The show’s first two seasons aired on smaller BBC channels, but “Children of Earth,” which constitutes the show’s third season, aired on the main channel, BBC One, July 6-10.

“It’s the big channel, it’s the big time,” Davies said. “And it’ll go out to Canada, Australia, it’ll be on BBC America. So we’re opening our arms and saying, ‘New people, be welcome, pull up a chair, listen to the story.’”

“Torchwood’s” brand of irreverent sci-fi has already attracted a devoted cult audience, but Davies, who created the original British version of “Queer as Folk,” didn’t want to “preach to the converted.”

"I can't believe there are people in the world who don't watch this show!" Davies said. "I'm trying to reach out to absolutely everyone."

Barrowman’s family, which is based in Milwaukee, has been staying with him in the UK this summer, and when he screened the first few episodes of “Children of Earth” for his sister and parents, they were transfixed.

“Normally, my mom and dad would get up and get a drink, go to the bathroom, whatever. For the first two episodes, they sat and didn’t say a word. And if they thought it was [expletive], they would tell me,” Barrowman said in a recent interview. “That’s what I hope the reaction is for the audience watching [on TV]. You see one and you want more. You cannot wait for the next episode.”

“Children of Earth” got strong ratings in the UK, and its darker themes and charged political allegories also provoked a fair amount of controversy. The Guardian compared this exciting yet thought-provoking miniseries to “Battlestar Galactica,” and once you see the dilemmas faced by the characters, it’s easy to see why.

July 13, 2009

I'm preparing a feature/review of "Torchwood: Children of Earth," a five-night miniseries that airs on BBC America starting July 20. Based on a viewing of the first three episodes, I posted this rave about the miniseries. I've now seen all five episodes of "Children of Earth" and all I can say is ... I have to watch the last two hours again. I'm still mulling those final installments over, to say the least (it's all I can do not to go to UK Web sites and look for "Torchwood" assessments; the miniseries aired there last week).

Don't get the wrong idea, I still think "Children of Earth" is well worth watching. And for that feature on the miniseries, I spoke to "Torchwood" star John Barrowman, who plays Captain Jack Harkness. Captain Jack leads a special team that deals with alien threats, and in the suspenseful five-night miniseries, the Torchwood team faces one of their biggest menaces ever.

Barrowman and I spoke by phone a couple of weeks ago, after I'd seen the first installment of "Children of Earth." I've done my best to take out anything that might be considered a spoiler.

Questions are in bold, answers are in regular type.

So I've seen Episode 1 of "Torchwood: Children of Earth" and I really liked it.

Oh, good. Well, just wait, because it gets even better. Episode 1 is brilliant, but if you're putting it in a scale of one to 10, it's about a five.

You said at Comic-Con last year -- I think you had just gotten the scripts for it -- that it hits the ground running and only gets more intense from there.

That's absolutely right. If I say it all the time, it sounds like me being overzealous for the project, but the other night, I put the first [couple of] episodes on. I let my mom and my dad and my sister -- they're over here spending the summer with me -- I let them sit and watch the episodes. Normally my mom and dad would get up and get a drink, go to the bathroom, whatever. For the first two episodes, they sat and didn't say a word. If they thought it was [expletive], they would tell me. They're the ones who are the most honest with me. As soon as [the episodes] were done, we had to go to bed, it was 2 a.m. The next morning, we get up and they're having coffee and all they said was, "When are we watching [Episode] 3?"

So for me, that's what I hope the reaction is for the audience watching [on TV]. You see one and you want more. You cannot wait for the next episode. It's a big roller-coaster ride.

My fear would have been, given that there's so much action and so much suspense, that the character stuff might get left behind, but that's not the case at all. There are these really good moments with Jack and Ianto [Gareth David-Lloyd], with Gwen [Eve Myles] and Rhys ([Kai Owen].

That's the beauty of the writing and the vision that Russell had for these five episodes. Just one example, in the hospital, you think we're going to be doing [a sad scene -- I took some details out of this sentence], Ianto and I, and soon as the [hospital] guy is gone, we're [doing a typically 'Torchwood' thing] and yet we're having a conversation about our relationship while we're doing that. That's what I think has made each character popular with audiences, Jack and Ianto and Gwen and Rhys -- they're just like those people who watch.

So what is going on between Jack and Ianto? Are you glad that their relationship is a big part of the story? Had you lobbied for that?

Here's my take on the "Children of Earth," which airs five consecutive nights starting July 20: It's the best thing BBC America has broadcast since it aired the original British version of "The Office."

Two things you need to know about "Children of Earth": It's a thriller, one of the most effective ones I've seen on TV in some time. Yes, "Torchwood" is a spinoff of "Doctor Who" and thus could be classified as a sci-fi show, but these five episodes expertly rachet up the tension while providing the enjoyable character drama fans have come to know and love. If this is sci-fi, it's sci-fi that non-genre fans can definitely love.

Also, you don't need to have seen "Torchwood" before you watch "Children of Earth." It works fine if you've never seen the drama before. Of course, for fans of the irreverent show, it'll be extra-fun, but no previous knowledge is necessary.

Prior seasons of "Torchwood" have aired on BBC2 and BBC3 in the UK. But creator Russell T Davies said in a Tuesday interview that since "Children of Earth" will air on BBC 1 -- the biggest network in the UK -- the goal was to make it accessible to newcomers.

In the third season of a show, "there's a danger you can settle for preaching to the converted." But he wants to "reach out to absolutely everyone and hopefully get some new viewers," he said.

Viewers will learn some dark things about Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) in "Children of Earth," and I asked Davies if there was a limit to how far he could take the frequently heroic character.

"With a good character and actor, as far as you want," he said. "I think the audience is very intelligent and they don't like it when you handle a character with kid gloves. Good drama exposes people's faults, that's what we empathize with."

Viewers will learn more about Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd) and Gwen (Eve Myles) as well (and by the way, what a crackling core cast this show has). "This is what I would have done no matter what," even if Season 3 had not been a compressed 5-episode experiment, Davies said. "It's simply time to explore the backgrounds a bit... It was time to expand and explore every connection."

One final note: Peter Capaldi is fantastic as Mr. Frobisher, a man who seems like a gray bureaucrat at first but whose role becomes extremely ambiguous throughout the course of the series, which airs July 6-10 in England.

I'll have much more from Davies and from Barrowman, who plays Captain Jack, when I do a longer "Torchwood" piece later in July, but I had to share a couple of "Doctor Who" details I wrangled from Davies in that Tuesday interview (and there are a few bits and pieces from a recent Barrowman interview here).

Davies relaunched the "Doctor Who" franchise to great success four years ago, but after a series of 2009 specials starring the current Doctor, David Tennant, a new season of "Doctor Who" will begin in the spring of 2010 with Matt Smith as the title character and Steven Moffat as the head writer.

Regarding those Tennant "Doctor Who" specials, "Planet of the Dead" airs July 26 on BBC America. There are three specials after that, and BBC America has confirmed that they will air in this country in around the end of the year. (For a recent interview with Tennant, look here.)

"Waters of Mars" is expected to air in November in the UK, and it should air in this country that month as well. Tennant's last outing as the Doctor is in a two-parter that airs in England on or around Christmas Day and New Years' Day. And those final Tennant specials will air on BBC America around those dates in this country as well.

Davies would not say much about Tennant's final three episodes, except to confirm Lindsay Duncan as the companion in "Waters of Mars" and Bernard Cribben as the companion in the final two-parter.

Davies said there's "enormous amounts of fun" and some good comedy with the alien species in those last two episodes, but there's also an undercurrent of sadness. "It's not a matter of me saying, 'Shall I be dark?' There's this meta-textual game with 'Doctor Who' -- everyone knows David is leaving. You can't avoid that fact, you can't have him walk into a door and regenerate. Everyone knows death is coming. That informs the drama," Davies said.

The final two episodes are Tennant's "finest hour by a million miles," he added.

Would he confirm any of the other casting for the final two Tennant specials? No, with a genial Welsh laugh, he would not.

But he did say that, though he'll stick with "Torchwood" and "The Sarah Jane Adventures," his next project will not be a genre piece. He's "dying" to write a 9 p.m. BBC drama set in the modern-day, entirely real world, he said.

As I said, I'll have fuller transcripts from Davies and Barrowman soon.

June 17, 2009

David Tennant, who will be fresh from wrapping his final scenes as the star of BBC America's "Doctor Who," will be at San Diego Comic-Con in July, along with executive producer Russell T. Davies. It'll be Tennant's first appearance at the annual pop-culture extravaganza, which this year takes place July 23-26.

Don't fret, "Torchwood" fans -- John Barrowman, who stars as Captain Jack Harkness on that BBC America show, will be at Comic-Con as well. Davies,
who has been the head writer and chief guru on both shows, will be part
of both the "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood" panels. For much more information on shows that are coming to Comic-Con, look here.

Speaking of Barrowman, I interviewed him Monday for a much longer "Torchwood" piece that will appear next month, before the July 20 debut of five-part third season of "Torchwood," which is called "Children of Earth."

I had to ask Barrowman if there is a chance that Captain Jack
and Tennant's Doctor will meet again, before Tennant's run as the Doctor is
over (the BBC is doing a total of five "Who" specials to end Tennant's
run; two of them have aired in the UK, and those two specials air on
BBC America June 27 and July 26).

Barrowman's answer: "All I
can say is, at any time, the Doctor may call upon Jack or run into
Jack. Never say never" to Tennant's Doctor seeing Jack before his time is up.

Speaking of "Children of Earth," I watched the first hour of it, and it's very good. It's a concentrated dose of everything I like about "Torchwood," which is a spinoff of "Doctor Who." It's action-packed and fast-paced, though it contains "Torchwood's" trademark wit and flirty banter.

When I told Barrowman I thought Part 1 hit the ground running and only got more intense throughout the hour, he said that, compared to the other episodes, which air on five consecutive nights, "that's only a 5 out of 10" on the intensity scale.

There's a big revelation about Captain Jack in the first episode of "Children of Earth," one that will explored in subsequent episodes of the season. "Jack has been hiding this secret for a long time," Barrowman said. The secret ties into the theme of "Children of Earth," which is "all to do with sins of the past," he said.

No decision has been made about future seasons of "Torchwood," Barrowman added, but if he were asked to play only Captain Jack for the next 10 years, he would do it.
"I love who that character is, what he stands for," said the actor.

He added that future seasons may be -- depending on what the BBC wants -- event-based, a la the five-part "Children of Earth" season. Again, I'll have more from Barrowman in piece that will appear next month.

Back to Comic-Con: At the convention, there will be a screening of the final installment of the five-part "Torchwood: Children of Earth," which runs for five nights on BBC America starting July 20, and there will also be a screening of "Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead," which debuts on BBC America July 26. (Another special, "The Next Doctor," airs on BBC America June 27).

BBC America's full press release about its Comic-Con doings, which include promotional events for "The Mighty Boosh" and "Being Human," is below.

June 01, 2009

BBC America has announced further details about its summer "Torchwood" and "Doctor Who" events.

Here's the rundown:

On June 27, "The Next Doctor," the first of five specials starring David Tennant as the Doctor airs on BBC America. The June 27 outing is a Christmas special, which may seem a little weird in the middle of summer, but never mind.

On July 20, "Torchwood: Children of Earth" kicks off and airs on five consecutive nights. "Children of Earth" also marks the debut of BBC America HD. There's a "Children of Earth" trailer here.

On July 26, BBC America airs a "Doctor Who" special titled "Planet of the Dead." There are three more "Who" specials starring Tennant that will air at some point in the future on BBC America.

As you may already know, a new "Who" showrunner, Steven Moffat, and a new star, Matt Smith, have taken over the "Doctor Who" franchise. There's no word yet on when the first Moffat/Smith season of the show will arrive.

In other "Who" news, a new companion has been named for Matt Smith's version of the Doctor. More on that here.

May 29, 2009

The "Doctor Who" spinoff "Torchwood" returns in July with a five-part third season called "Children of Earth." Below is a clip from "Children of Earth" (and there's more info about the project here).

By the way, in other "Doctor Who" news, David Tennant will appear as the Doctor in a series of five specials that BBC America will air (the first special airs June 27). After that, Matt Smith will play the Doctor in the show's next full season. And here's some information about Karen Gillan, who was just chosen to play the Doctor's companion on the sci-fi show's next season.

May 12, 2009

BBC America has confirmed that the third season of "Torchwood" will air in July.

The third season of the sci-fi show has a different format from previous seasons -- Season 3 will be a highly serialized five-part series called "Children of Earth." It is expected to air simultaneously in England on BBC One and in the U.S. on BBC America.

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